Aaron Fine: Experiments on Paper – Narrative Stories
FAYETTE, Mo. – Art adorning the walls of the new exhibition to open
Jan. 15 at The Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art at Central Methodist
University teases the imagination and tests human consciousness.
It is unconventional in form, cosmic and terrestrial in narrative. Many
of the 16 mixed-media-on-paper pieces are anchored at the ceiling and
flow down the walls of the gallery and out onto the floor – vertical
scrolls composed of myriad, seemingly disparate elements that, once
absorbed and assimilated by the mind, represent the whole – the meaning
or symbolism of the work. But the interpretations will vary by viewer,
which is the intent of artist Aaron Fine.
As a mixed-media artist, Fine likes to work with paper presented in long
vertical scrolls as well as long, horizontal compositions. “My work,” he
says in an artist’s statement, “creates an imaginary relationship
between the beholder and the bodies depicted. The means I use toward
this end include the implications of perspective space, the visual
appeal of color, and the emotional investment of narrative. Because I
[involve] the audience in the artwork, [their] views transform my
private reveries into new public meanings.”
Fine’s art reflects a diverse and universal intellect and often
incorporates the cross cultural elements of the mystical and spiritual
East and industrial West. His modern and somewhat abstract perspectives
are noted in titles of pieces such as “The Crypt,” “Buddha’s Spots,”
“Blocks,” “The Night Ceiling,” and “Eve in Saint Stephen’s” – a nude
posed in the lower foreground against a diverse compositional background
of vaulted arches and windows. In many pieces, strong vertical lines
connect various elements framed in bright splashes of color – blues,
reds, oranges underlain by subtle grays and solid blacks.
The
title of his exhibition is “Aaron Fine: Experiments on Paper – Narrative
Stories.” It will run through Feb. 28. Gallery hours will be 1:30 – 4:30
p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Fine will be
present for a reception in his honor at the gallery from 1:30 to 4:30
p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. A selection of recently acquired pieces from the
gallery’s permanent collection also will be on display.
For more information or to arrange tours, contact Dr. Joe Geist at
660-248-6304 (office), or 248-6324 (Gallery), or by e-mail at
jegeist@centralmethodist.edu. The gallery is physically impaired
accessible.
Fine, a well-known and widely exhibited Missouri artist, is an assistant
professor of art and art gallery director at Truman State University in
Kirksville. He is also a member of the Missouri London Consortium
faculty, London, England, where he has taught in the study abroad
program. He has also been a member of the Missouri Scholars Academy,
Columbia, Mo., where he taught courses in Color and Symmetry and
Perspectives.
He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Claremont Graduate
University in California and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ohio
University. He has also studied abroad at Parson’s College of Design in
Paris.
Fine’s art has been exhibited widely throughout Missouri, California,
Illinois, and Ohio, and he has been recognized with numerous honors in
the art world, including the Solomon Smith Barney Prize at Winston-Salem
(North Carolina) Art Center, Merit Award at Parkersburg (West Virginia)
Art Center and the President’s Choice Purchase Award at Claremont
Graduate University.
